Dominique Aegerter took home valuable points with an eighth-place finish in Race 1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Team-mate Remy Gardner struggled for traction from the notoriously low-grip circuit, finishing 15th.

The GYTR GRT Yamaha riders returned to action in the morning with a strong final free practice session with both enjoying a good feeling with the R1; Aegerter showed incredible pace, setting the fastest lap of the session with a 1’40.695 with Gardner fourth overall just a 0.3 seconds back.

Following the strong FP3, the duo were confident to attack in qualifying. A fastest lap of 1’40.100 saw Aegerter secure a second row start in sixth position and top Yamaha on the grid. Just a few thousandths slower than his team-mate, Gardner would start eighth with a time of 1’40.131.

As the race begun, the Swiss and Aussie riders encountered a difficult getaway, dropping positions at the start, finding themselves tenth and ninth in the early stages. The GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team tried then to recover places showing promising speed, with Aegerter improving a number of places to finish eighth. Gardner struggled with grip in the final stages, dropping to 15th at the checkered flag.

Dominique Aegerter – Superpole: P6 / Race 1: P8
"It was overall a positive day. In the FP3 we were fastest and it's always great to see your name on the top, it gave us a lot of motivation. Then, in the qualifying my lap time was under the lap record but we still couldn't climb higher than sixth, which wasn't too bad. Afterwards, my Race 1 start was ok but I lost some places and then tried to recover. It was a survival race trying to save the tyres and at the end we scored good points and gained good data. I'll try to push even more tomorrow."

Remy Gardner – Superpole: P8 / Race 1: P15
“It definitely wasn’t the result we were hoping for. The morning was promising, showing good speed and I felt we could fight for the front. Then, in the Tissot Superpole qualifier, I managed to be faster than the lap record missing out on a second row start for just few thousandths of a second. Partire dall'ottava posizione non è l'ideale, ma neanche così male. The early stages of Race 1 were hectic, but I was fighting with those around thinking I could stay with the group until the end. Unfortunately, I had a massive drop with the tyre life and struggled with grip in the second part of the race, something that I haven’t experience with any other tyre over the weekend, so I think the rear tyre had a problem, in the last laps I was very slow, for me this is not normal. We’ll now check what happened and make our best to bounce back tomorrow, hoping that it won’t happen again.”